Zuko's Return
by Septanimous
Summary: After the war, Azula breaks out and kills Zuko. Mai makes a deal with Koh, the face stealer, to get his life back. However, Zuko comes back... wrong, and the only one who can same him is the world's greatest healer, Katara, with the help of the Spirit Oasis. Unfortunately, they don't make it that far and end up trapped in the ice, only to awaken 100 years later. Zutara/Zukorra
1. Searching for Spirits

**Disclaimer: None of these characters or places belong to me, they belong to the great ones who created the world of Avatar, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.**

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**The ages of the characters will not match up with the ones in the show. I had to do this in order to create a lot of the wonderfulness that you are about to experience.**

**This story is going to be an epic. Therefore, in order to get this story really going, I need to create an interesting background. This may take a few chapters. Please have patience. It will be rewarded.**

**There will be romance, don't you fret. But it will not be the driving force of this story. It will come unexpectedly, just like it does in real life. And it will be powerful.**

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Disturbed pieces of ice drifted apart as the two boys rowed their small longboat through the cold water. The sun was beaming down on them brightly, and although it didn't warm them very much, it caused the ice, water, and snow around them to glisten so brightly than they had to squint their eyes.

"Come on, Tarrlok. If we don't get back in time for our waterbending lessons, Dad is likely to set the polarbear dogs on us!" said Noatak impatiently to his tired fifteen year old younger brother, who was uncoordinatedly pushing the water on his side so that the boat kept turning to the left.

"It was your big idea to come out here. I should have let you go by yourself. I could have snuggled close to the fire all morning instead of being out here looking for…. what was it again? Oh yeah, the mysterious _Spirit Oasis_." He grumbled to Noatak, who gave him an annoyed look before letting it fade away as his mind wandered.

They hadn't found anything, not even a trace, and this was the farthest north of the village they had ever been. Rarely anyone came out this far, especially since the hunting and fishing was sparse.

Noatak looked out across the frozen land around him, bringing his hand above his eyes to block the sun. It didn't work well, since the glare was coming at him from all angles, but the blur in his vision inspired his imagination to fill in the gaps.

In his mind, the frozen shapes around them became a tall forgotten city. The water filled with golden dolphin-guppies, and everything was frosted with moonstones and pearls.

This was his vision of the Spirit Oasis.

There was a legend in the Northern Water Tribe that thousands of years ago, the spirits walked on the earth. They created the world as we know it, but then they had to move on because humans could not live peacefully with the spirits. The spirits were mortal, but had gifts and life expectancies that far surpassed what the humans had, and they grew jealous and violent.

The spirits loved the humans, and could not think of punishing them. After all, it had been their idea to give them free will. They tried to amend the problem by giving away their gift of bending. But it did not work, the humans became a threat to their existence with their new incredible power, and so the spirits left to find a new world.

The connection between the spirits and the human world was not completely severed, and a few places served to create the connection.

These places were all gone now, and nothing was left but stories. Children were taught that these stories from their families, of course, because teaching children about the spiritual in classrooms was a political and social taboo.

If anyone knew that they were in search of one of the lost spirit connection places, they wouldn't only be in trouble with their father, they might have to face the council. But Noatak had hope that there was something else out there, something just out of his reach, that would answer the questions that were constantly swarming in his head. He knew that that one night he had seen something… something that had a message for him… but he could not explain this.

Noatak and Tarrlok also knew one thing that others didn't. It was one of those secrets that the tribe council doesn't like for people to talk about because it brings up all those old "religious" questions. Their mother told them this story after Noatak told her about his vision.

"_You two have learned about the Day of the Red Moon?" their mother asked them, as they cuddled close to one another in the fur __by the fire._

"_Yeah mom, duh" responded the six year old Tarrlok, with a bit of childish rudeness. "I learned about that last year. It happened a long long ago or something."_

"_Ninety-five years to be exact. But anyway, there's something that I think you might not have heard. It may help you answer your own questions, Noatak." She edged closer to them, leaning in so that they could feel the warmth of her breath. "The fire nation attacked that day, and thought that they could easily conquer our city and take the Avatar, but they highly underestimated the abilities of our warriors. They were about to be defeated, when all of a sudden the moon turned red, weakening our waterbenders. They took back the advantage, and then… the moon disappeared, leaving us in complete darkness. If the Avatar had not saved us, we may very well have become demolished and then ingested into the Fire Nation as one of their colonies."_

_The story was familiar to them, but the boys were fascinated by the way she told the story, she moved her arms with it, as if to draw it out in front of them in a flowing dance, and her eyes were so deep that they thought if they looked hard enough, they could see the story itself play out in them. _

"_Your teachers may have told you that the moon was shadowed by something floating in space, or that the clouds were too thick to see through, or that it was a trick by the Fire Nation themselves, but my mother knew better than that. She worked in the palace of the royalty at that time, and she remembered how the Princess Yue really lost her life. It was not an illness, as she was in perfect health, except perhaps a little heartache… but that's a different story. The princess lost her life giving back a part of her life to the Moon Spirit, in order to save his life and restore balance to the world."_

_The children gasped at this, as they had never heard this part of the story before, but they were too enthralled to interrupt the tale._

"_The spirit had lived on earth in its mortal form, as a fish, and when one of the fire nation generals discovered this, he sought out its home in the spirit oasis and killed it. That was why the moon went out. Princess Yue saved us all by…" She quickly cut herself off as her husband came into the ice hut. She sent the boys out to play, and that was the last of the story they heard._

"Earth to Noatak! Helllooooo…?" said Tarrlok, knocking on his brothers head. Noatak realized that he had been daydreaming again and straightened up.

"I was just… umm… strategizing. You know, mapping out the tundra in my mind." He replied, wishing this would be enough to stop his little brother from teasing him. He knew that Tarrlok looked up to him, but he also knew he loved never letting go of his mistakes.

"Because drooling over the side of the boat is like what? Brain perspiration?" He burst in to laughter and even Noatak had to chuckle, even if it was mostly as his brother's ridiculous fit of giggles.

They looked around at their surroundings, and realized they had no clue where they were.

"I thought that this was the way we came? We must have just recently taken a wrong turn around an iceberg, let's retrace our path and get home."

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Winds had started to pick up and the water was no longer calm. The sky darkened quickly as a storm rolled overhead and lightning streaked across the sky, which was a very rare occurrence in the arctic. It mesmerized and terrified the boys. The boat began being tossed around in the water.

Even though it was their element, it no longer felt safe, and they fought to keep their little bought from tipping over.

Things were happening too fast. Where had this come from?

Their boat was tossed forward so quickly that it sped ahead in the water. The ice cold water splashed on them, soaking their parkas and sending daggers into the places it touched bare skin on their face and necks.

Tarrlok closed his eyes and waited for it to end, but Noatak was not leaving it up to fate. He took in a deep breath and then pushed out his arms, first forward, and then sweeping around.

The angry waves against the side of the boat froze, as well as the water extending in a circle around them for about ten yards. Their boat was no longer floating; it was stuck inside of a large chunk of ice that held its own against the current.

Noatak grabbed his brother and stepped out onto the slick ice. It was still shaking from the waves, but the uneven surface of frozen waves made it easier to keep from slipping. He froze the water ahead in chucks and the two of them leaped from ice to ice until they reached showy ground, and they collapsed onto it.

Exhausted from the bending as well as the running, Noatak lifted his shivering head from the ground and looked around frantically. They needed a way to get warm. They needed help.

As if his wishes were answered, the lightning struck again and illuminated two shapes ahead of them. They stood out in the distance because unlike the white snow, they were brightly colored in red and blue.

Noatak's eyes widened and he cried out in relief, "Tarrlok, look there! WE'RE SAVED!"

Tarrlok looked up and saw what his brother had seen, "L-lets j-just wait here a s-second. I d-don't know who would be out here," he stuttered, freezing from his drenched clothes. Noatak bended some of the water out of his brother's clothes, and then out of his, but he wasn't very skilled at it, and being exhausted didn't help. "I don't know if we can trust anyone who's out here. They could be criminals."

"We have no choice."

The boys fought their way up the snow bank towards the shapes. It was clear that they were people, but no matter how loud they yelled out to them, they wouldn't turn around. The wind was at their backs, and before long they had made it close enough to finally get a good look, and they were shocked.

Two bodies were frozen into a small glacier. It looked as it had been part of a bigger one that was nearby, but it had broken apart and started to melt. The lightning around them eerily illuminated them so that they didn't look human, but like creatures from beyond the grave.

The boys were sure that these people were dead, and they wanted to get away as quickly as possible, but a morbid curiosity drew them closer. They were too shocked to remember that since these were not rescuers, they were still lost and cold in the middle of a storm.

The two of them started inching around the glacier in opposite directions, staring at the bodies inside. One was female, in a long blue parka that looked almost like a dress their grandmother would wear. The other was a man, and wore a red… something. The ice was too blurry to tell anything besides that they looked funny.

These things didn't distinguish their identities though. Since village trade turned into a global market after the fire nation allowed the colonies to industrialize, these colors and designs could be found anywhere.

"What in Sorzon's Comet is that?" asked Tarrlok, pointing to the frozen man's face as they reached the other side of the glacier. One side of his face was strikingly handsome, regal even, but the other was disfigured by a fright red scar.

At that moment, a bolt of lightning struck the glacier. Noatak and Tarrlok were thrown back by the shock and the light, and the glacier lit up like a blue moon.

"Duck!" cried Noatak, sensing from the ice around him what was about to happen. Almost instantly the glacier exploded in a burst of light and ice.

Noatak opened his eyes just long enough to see a huge chunk of ice flying towards him.

Then everything went black.

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**Tell me your favorite characters from ATLA and Korra! I have the basic plot already written out, but if you want to make sure they are included, tell me and I can make it happen!**

**Please review!**


	2. 100 Years Earlier

Disclaimer: This story is mine, but the characters are not.

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Thank you DominoEFX and Nettlebird13 for your inspiring reviews! I plan on sticking with it, as I've got an amazing plan for it written out.

And thanks to you, FirestarterX, for being my inspiration. I was getting a little tired of my sittle sister gettiing all the fame and glory.

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100 Years Earlier

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Fire Lord Zuko paced around his bedchamber. It had been three weeks since the coronation. He had been the most powerful man in the world for all that time, and he still couldn't find out anything about his mother.

She had vanished from his life like the morning mist, and she was just as elusive. He could feel that she was alive. It was the same instinct that had led him to the Avatar all those hundreds of times.

_I must have missed something_, he thought. _I must be close, I have to be. _

Questioning his father had led to nothing but internal torment. Zuko hated him, but there was something about his weak, pitiful form that made Zuko feel guilty. Not to mention that his father would always mention how he had no honor, and how he was a disgrace as a son and as a leader. Disappointment; Betrayal; Dishonor. These words still rattled around in Zuko's mind. But he was stronger now, and he had a mission to accomplish.

He knew that he far too anxious to sleep, so he put on some dark, plain robes and slipped out the window and into the night.

_Old habits are hard to break_, he thought to himself, remembering the times he had used the Blue Spirit alias to thwart Admiral Zhao. A small smile came to his lips. Then he remembered watching the Ocean Spirit drown Zhao, and he forced the thoughts from his mind.

The sloping stacked roofs of the Fire Palace were easy to climb, and he took some extra time on them flipping around and sneaking through the shadows, just for fun. There was no reason to hide anymore.

Zuko landed soundlessly on the grass. S_o many places to go, where to begin._ But Zuko already knew where he was headed.

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He snuck through the garden, past the guards, through one of the narrow capital streets, and to the large complex of mansions where the noblemen and noblewomen of the Fire Nation lived. New Ozai had been reclaimed by the Earth Kingdom as Omashu, and her father, who had been made governor there, fled back to the Capital to their old family home.

All it took from Zuko were two swift leaps to get onto her third floor balcony.

He went up to the paneled screen to knock, and saw her shadow standing right behind it.

_Nothing gets past her. _He thought to himself with a wry smile.

_Tap Tap Tap _

He knocked gently anyway, just for good measure.

"I don't think I've managed to sneak up on you yet, Mai."

She opened the screen slowly, and he saw one of those rare smiles that made his heart jump through his chest.

"No, I don't suppose you have," she replied, keeping her voice in a bored, flat tone.

Zuko wasn't fooled by it. He had grown up with Mai, and he knew that while she put off the impression that she was shallow and emotionless, she was actually brave, faithful, and caring.

Just like Zuko, she had been ruled by her family instead of loved by it. While Zuko was being trained to be a dictator, she was being trained to be the eye candy of the nation, sitting obediently and silently in the background.

They didn't talk. They didn't need to. Mai had a regal, powerful presence, but unlike Azula and his father, she was calm and soft-tempered.

He enjoyed times when they were together, because she was able to bring out a side of himself that he had almost been brainwashed out of. It was the childish, playful side to him that he almost lost growing up. She brought it out with her sarcastic teasing and disinterest in his "quest for honor. " She didn't want to hear about it, and she knew how foolish it had been, so she would distract him from it for a while, and he could almost become a normal teenager. Almost.

She let him into the room and the two of them sat side by side on the red velvet sofa by the foot of her bed.

Her dark hair was softly lit by a candle on her bedside table. Zuko assumed that she had been up reading. That was another thing he loved. She was an avid reader of books with substance, which meant that they could curl up side by side and they could flip through the pages of the same one for hours. She liked doing things like that, things with meaning.

Zuko remembered the times at the beach when he had tried to impress her with seashells and ice cream. He had just expected her to like it. _ Isn't that what girls like?_ He had thought so. It took him a while to realize that he couldn't generalize people the way he used to. People didn't fit into perfect labels: girls, soldiers, good, evil. The lines were all blurry where he had once thought them as distinguishable as Pai Sho tiles.

_Besides,_ he thought, s_he doesn't see the purpose of beauty. She would rather have the earth be blind, that way, they would begin to see that appearances are completely meaningless. _ Her family had taught her that for noblewomen, honor is in beauty, and that her sole purpose should be to attain it and surround herself with as much of it as possible. Fortunately, Mai was wise enough, even when she was young, so see how dumb it really was, and she didn't become an empty, soulless celebrity like so many of the other young Fire Nation nobles. Over the years, she had started to despise the beautiful, which was a little darker than Zuko liked at first. _But if she hated ugliness, she wouldn't truly want to be with me. I am very lucky that Mai is the way she is, and I wouldn't want her to change._

"You look a little lost, can I help you with something," she said with a soothing voice, leaning close to Zuko's ear so that she didn't have to say it much louder than a whisper.

He looked into face and saw that her smile reached her eyes.

"You know, Mai, I think you're the one who may need help." he whispered back softly, waiting for his unexpected retort to leave some kind of an impression on her demeanor.

Her face was completely impassive. "I'd ask what you meant by that, but you'll probably just start rambling."

"You would be right, like always", he said with a laugh, and went on. "You try so hard not to let anyone see how you feel. But you've neglected to guard your eyes. I can see everything in them. When you're angry but too stubborn to show it, your eyes shoot knives. And when you realize that something is beautiful to you, but you can't accept it, you try to ignore it. But, I can see the way your eyes take it all in, so you can hold it there in your mind when you look away. Your facade just isn't holding up anymore ."

He gently brushed his hand along the bottom of her bangs, pushing them away from her face just enough to get a glimpse of her brow-line, which held a quizzical expression that was only present there.

Mai thought about this for a while without breaking their intense eye contact. Zuko wanted to look at the rest of her face. He wanted to see the curve of her pale jawline, which always holds the same serene form, as if she was carved into alabaster. But he stared into her topaz eyes and saw she had given up trying to keep them empty. They were now sparkling with mischief. Zuko liked this a lot.

"Then what am I feeling now?" Mai asked.

"I think you're going to have a really hard time watching me leave tonight." he replied, trying not to grin.

"Then don't." And with that, she leaned in and kissed him.


	3. Startled

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, they are part of the world created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

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"You have come here to face me, Zuko. But you have forgotten something very important." Ozai sat in his throne at the end of the long royal hall. Flames came up from the floor behind him, causing his face to light up menacingly.

"I am here to defeat you, and I will succeed. It is my destiny. " Zuko stood proudly in golden armor before his father. He wore a shining helmet and his handsome scar-free face held its determined expression.

"I thought it was the avatar's destiny to defeat me. Don't you remember the last time you came to this room? You came during the Day of the Black Sun. You came when I was weak because you were scared of me. Pathetic. And then you betrayed your nation and ran away. But could you fight me? No. You were scared. You will always be scared. And that is why you will always lose."

Ozai stood up. The floor caved in below his huge feet, and more flames shot up from the cracks. Ozai towered over Zuko, his entire lower half engulfed in a roaring fire.

Zuko had forgotten something. He had forgotten how much his father terrified him.

He stood his ground. Running away again wasn't an option.

"You think that you are glorifying the Fire Nation, but you aren't! You're destroying everything our ancestors have tried to protect! I've been to the dragonbone catacombs, I've visited the dragon masters, I know what you have been hiding! You can't keep the ugly, terrible truth about this war hidden any longer!"

"Ha ha ha ha!" Ozai let out a roaring laugh that echoed through the chamber, increasing in volume and overlapping until it brought Zuko to the ground, covering his ears in pain.

"That's right, Zuko. Kneel before me. Kneel! You've remembered something else. You've remembered your place."

Zuko jumped back to his feet and glared at his father.

"I know I will defeat you and restore balance!"

"And how is that, little Zuko?"

"I am the avatar!" and with that, Zuko pulled off his helmet. His head was bald with a glowing blue arrow tattoo. He rose into the air until he was eye-level with Ozai.

"Interesting," Ozai replied. "I thought the avatar would have remembered to wear pants."

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Zuko awoke with a jolt.

Before he had a chance to make sure that his pants were still on, he was distracted by a strange weight on his chest. He looked down to see incredibly shiny, long black hair.

_Mai, he remembered_ with a smile.

He had to get back to the palace. If he was found here, it would make Mai the talk of the nation. He needed to protect her honor.

He carefully slid out from under her. Mai let out a sigh, but didn't stir.

He soundlessly dressed and walked back to the balcony. Although the sun was peeking out from the horizon, there was a thick morning mist that could easily hide him on his way back home. Zuko laughed when he remembered how terrified he had been only minutes before. He was the Fire Lord now, and ha was already restoring peace to the world. This was his destiny.

_If only you could see me now, mother_

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_If only you could see me now, Father, t_hought Azula.

She was in solitary confinement. There was no way to firebend her way out. Her arms were tight around her body in a straight jacket. She had already run every scenario through her head. There was nothing fire could do that would get her closer to escaping. _But I am no ordinary firebender. I am from the most powerful line of benders in the nation, no, the world! I shall not be stopped. _She cackled aloud.

Azula loved to cackle. She would do it all day long if she could. Sometimes she did.

_Let them think I'm crazy. When I escape, It won't matter. I'll kill the families of whoever says it._

She cackled a little more.

And her hair started to stand up on end.

This was because of the electricity that she was bending through her body. It moved from her elbows to her shoulders, from her shoulders to her ears, and then she shot it straight down her body through her feet and into the floor. An unfortunate rat that had been scurrying by was in the path of the electricity. The shock hit him, and then his body cooked.

_I can't wait to show my darling brother my new trick_, she thought, as she sent another spark through the damp cracks in the stone prison floor.


	4. Rats

Zuko awoke that morning in his own chamber. He had slept surprisingly well after the nightmare he had at Mai's.

It was a beautiful day outside. The run was still rising, and it warmed Zuko to his core. He had the strangest feeling that something wonderful was going to happen soon.

Zuko had rarely felt this blissful before the war, and he didn't know how to deal with it now that it happened often. Usually, he would take these opportunities to do something unpleasant. That way, unpleasant things didn't sneak up on him.

It made sense to him, at least.

_I suppose that it is as good a day as any to visit my sister. I should not keep putting this off. She mentioned that she knew something about mother… She was probably just taunting me... but what if she really knows something?_

Zuko started on his way to the asylum after breakfast. It was more of a prison than a place of rehabilitation, but Azula needed the extra security that the prison environment offered. These prisons had been holding benders of all kinds for nearly a thousand years.

_That reminds me, we need to install a metal-bending proof wing, _thought Zuko. _ If Toph can figure it out, it will only be a matter of time before the technique spreads. We have to be prepared for advancing bending techniques._

Zuko made his way through security. Both guards and visitors parted before him and bowed respectfully as he passed.

Zuko knew the cell that his sister was confined to by reputation. It was floors beyond any other prisoner. Guards were told not to stand around here, and only to come to deliver food and make daily checks that the prisoner was secure. They had known from experiences with insane bloodbenders and firebenders alike that it was not safe to loiter in these halls. Although Zuko had never visited his sister in her cell these rooms were notorious and he did not need an escort to find his way.

Azula looked less than human. Her hair was uneven, unclean, and sticking out at odd angles. She slumped in her straightjacket in the corner more like a pile of twisted limbs than a person. Her face was greasy and covered in scabs and cuts that looked as if she had been tearing at her face with her nails. Her sunken eyes stared straight at Zuko

Zuko tried to keep his composure, but his sister unnerved him. _Why hadn't he been informed of her condition? Why didn't they allow her to at least stay clean? Were they even feeding her?_ He couldn't keep eye contact, and instead stared off into a different shadowy corner, where there appeared to be a pile of small bones .

The cell smelled terrible. Something was off even from the normal terrible prison smell that he had almost grown accustomed to during his stay.

"I can't do this," he mumbled, and backed away from the cell and trying to hold his breath. He turned to leave.

"I'm sorry, you know," came a voice from the cell. It was so faint, and so small, that it took Zuko a few moments to register that it was more than a squeaking hinge or a scuffling rat.

"What?" answered Zuko, unsure of what he had heard. It was so unlike Azula that he looked to her once more to make sure it WAS her.

"I haven't been truly sorry about anything my entire life. But this time, I am." She bowed her head to him. "You did not deserve the way I treated you."

Zuko was only sure of one thing at that moment, and that was that he wanted to get out. She was scaring him. This was not his sister. He had expected an argument, insults, screaming. Anything but this. He was not prepared. He backed away futher, and jumped when his back touched the far wall.

That shock caused him to inhale sharply, and he took in too much the putrid air that he had been avoiding. He gaged. His eyes watered.

The smell was terrible not because it was nothing he had ever smelled before, but because it was a smell he was all too familiar with. This was the smell that had haunted him years ago, when his father had burned the skin off of his face. It was the smell the accompanied the pain and the embarrassment. It was the smell of his honor and his life being ripped away.

It was the sickly sweet smell of burnt flesh.

"I treated you like a common traitor, but I should have treated you much differently," she said, her voice finding its strength.

"Did you get a chance to look over there at my collection?" she asked, nodding to the shadowy corner " I think you found it more interesting than me a little while ago. Those are the rats that scurry around and eat out of the chamber pots. I was kind to them once. There was this one that I loved very much. I named her Kya, and fed her my food before I ate it to make sure it wasn't poison. She had her babies right here in this very cell. She ate them all the next day, and I realized that family means nothing to the treacherous. You and mother are the same. If you can betray your own family, then you have no honor, and you should be smited. I burned Kya to a crisp, and you deserve no better. I have been waiting for the day that my dear coward brother would come and face me, so I could finally treat him the way I should have done a long time ago."

"I knew you were in there somewhere, Azula," responded Zuko, feeling slightly more collected than he had before. Anger, he understood. Anger, he could use. It was her apologies that confused him, and his confusion that crippled him.

"If you know me so well, then why aren't you running away?" answered the now grinning captive. "Do you really think me capable of empty threats?"

"I am no coward, Azula. Besides, do you think burning a few rats is really that terrifying? You have lost your touch, Azula. You have lost everything. I am not afraid of you."

"No, you miscalculated. You should have feared me more!"

"Wha….."

At that moment, a pulse of electric shock wrecked through Zuko's body. He was unable to control his body, and his legs caved under him. If Zuko's brain would not process what was happening, and his heart started thudding out of his chest. Another wave hit him once he was on the ground, and every one of his muscles was twitching violently.

It stopped for a moment. He continued to twitch, but he could now think enough to realize that his mouth was full of blood. _I must have bitten my tongue, but I cannot feel it. I can't feel anything. _He didn't know how to fight this. His body wasn't responding the way it should. He couldn't get up. He opened his mouth to speak, and a bloodcurdling scream came out. He closed his mouth. He was still screaming against his closed lips. He gave up and opened them again. _To hell with my pride._

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry it had to end like this, brother. " With a smile, Azula let another pulse of electricity through the floor towards her brother. This time, there was a smell of singed flesh.

_Girls are crazy, _thought the Firelord before losing consciousness.

A few moments later, Zuko's heart stopped.

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Sorry for the hiatus! I have been working through some complications in this plot, but I have it pretty much figured out now. I will be updating soon!


	5. Combustion

**Midnight**

"The afternoon guard found the body when he was bringing in dinner. He said if it hadn't been for finding the body where he did, he wouldn't have been able to recognize it."

"Was it really that bad?"

"There was hardly anything left! The official word is that it was "spontaneous combustion."

"What do you think?"

"I think anyone would be mad to believe that. No firebender can do that to themselves. A few blisters and scorched eyebrows, sure, but this person burned and burned until nothing was let but bone and ash. This was murder if I've ever seen it."

"What a shock. A murder in the royal family? The entire world will know about this by the end of the week."

"It's not like it hasn't happened before."

"But still, it's no less terrible."

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**Earlier that day in the prison**

Desperate screams echoed through the damp corridors. Not a single person was close enough to hear. The walls were thick to keep the sadness in.

The echoes faded out and were replaced by an eerie calm.

The eerie calm was replaced by an insane cackling.

That was replaced by some cheerful shouting of "Yes! I have defeated you for all time! You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!"

"Ah, that was fun," sighed Azula, finally settling down after about an hour.

* * *

**Meanwhile, in the palace**

Mai was rarely concerned, but she was now. She was getting the same feeling she had when her brother Tom-Tom was abducted. She checked on him, but he was fine. Zuko had not shown up for lunch, but that was not too unusual. She was used to him taking off unexpectedly for one reason or another.

Something wasn't right.

She tried to shrug it off and distract herself with a book, but it just so happened that in that chapter, the author of_ Swords in the Storm _had decided to brutally kill off almost an entire family of main characters in a treacherous wedding. She threw the book across the room and threw knives at it until she felt it had learned a lesson. Then she went off to find her fiancé.

* * *

The guards reported to her that he had taken off in the direction of the prison, and she sighed and went off that way too.

There were two places that Zuko would visit: his father and his sister. Azula scared her less, so she went there first.

She and Ty-Lee had visited Azula several times. Azula called them traitors and refused to talk to them, but they came back nevertheless to encourage her to bathe and eat. They found out that Azula was sure that everyone was intending to poison her and would not eat the food unless a rat came to eat it. That disturbed them, but they would keep coming back to try to rehabilitate her.

_Things get complicated when your best friend tries to kill your boyfriend_, she thought.

The guards questioned her and asked if she would like an escort, but she replied that she needed none and they let her on her way.

* * *

When the smell hit her, she took off in a dead sprint. She heard someone talking loudly.

Then she saw a pile of robes.

Then she saw someone standing half-naked over a pile of robes.

Then she recognized Azula standing half-naked standing over a pile of robes.

Then she recognized the pile of robes to be a body.

Then she recognized the body to be Zuko.

Azula turned around ready to fight, but she wasn't given that chance. Mai already had her stilettos out. Three knives flew through the air.

Mai normally aimed for robes to pin her enemies down. But Azula wore no robes. It was apparent that she had just torn out of her straitjacket. She wore a piece of cloth around her torso and wore tight but tattered pants that were ripped and stained. Mai would have been concerned that Azula had threatened the nurses away if she wasn't occupied with violently attacking her.

Mai aimed to maim. Two of the knives penetrated Azula's hands. The other pierced under her kneecap, forcing her to fall crippled to the floor. Azula screeched and screamed, but Mai ran to Zuko. She took his head on her lap and cried at the sight of his mouth dripping with blood. Zuko was cold to the touch. _He looks regal even now._ _This can't be it! He was born to do so much more!_

"YOU BITCH!" She cried, her tears of sadness turning to tears of anger. "HE WAS YOUR BROTHER!"

Azula had ripped the knives from the hands and tried to wipe the tears of pain from her face so that she could enjoy the scene before her. She failed, and the thick dark blood from her hands smeared across her face, mixing with the tears and getting in her eyes and mouth. She smiled nevertheless. _This is what she had coming anyway. _

"I was going to spare you, you know." She maniacally screamed. Her cackles were cut off by her own sobs. "Now, I have no choice. What shame, but nomatter. You were a bad friend anyway." And with that, Azula tried to shoot lightning from her damaged palms at her opponent.

The lightning instead blew her hands clean off.

"AAAAAAHGGHGGHGGGGHGGHHGGGHG..OOOHHHHHHGODDDDDD…AH HHHHHHGHGHG..PPLEAASSSSEENNNOOOOOOO!"

The screams were the most terrible sound the prison had ever heard.

Mai pulled Zuko's crown from his head and thrust it through Azula's throat. The screams ended.

* * *

Mai noticed was covered in pieces of Azula's singed flesh and started throwing up. She did not know if anyone had heard Azula's cries, and she did not know if she wanted anyone to. She needed to save Zuko. There was still hope. The Avatar had been brought back from something just like this. She just needed help. And she couldn't have the guards take him away yet.

She ran off quickly and stealthily to find Iroh.

It was still midday when she made it out of the asylum wing. She was glad because no guard or nurse would be coming to check on Azula until dinnertime, and she had time to get Zuko out of there.

Unfortunately, it meant that she had to get out of the prison and into the palace in bright daylight.

Mai smelled and looked horrible, and if she was near anyone she would be found and questioned. She couldn't be linked to this. She couldn't have anyone find Zuko.

She snuck through the corridors she knew to be empty, and avoided the ones that weren't. On one floor, she was in the middle of a brightly lit hall when a doorknob started turning. She had to quickly fling a knife pinning the wooden latch to the door from the outside before taking off in a sprint.

She found an empty laundry room, and managed to wash quickly and change into a simple nurse's outfit. She didn't notice how hard she was shaking until she was trying to pull up all of her hair under a nurse's bonnet. She tucked her soiled robes under her arm and hurried out to the palace.

* * *

She luckily found Iroh in the garden before she even reached the palace.

"There is something you must help me with. It concerns Zuko. Please hurry!" she found herself begging.

It took Iroh a moment to recognize who she was, with her panicky demeanor and disguise.

"Dear child, show me the way."

He wept loudly when he found his nephew's body.

"That awful girl had been planning this for some time. She had these bones filed down as lockpicks, and these sharpened into knives. Doing this with your hands buckled to your body must have been quite a task. Quite a hideous task. He said with disqust. Taking a life is a terrible thing." He heard Mai sob, and realized that these were not conforting words. "You had mercy, Mai. That is something completely different. Your soul is not marred by that act of kindness."

They both wept quietly.

"He would have been so great." He cried.

"He still can be," replied Mai, in a serious, but distant voice. "We need to get him out of here. The waterbenders can do something."

"I fear that it is too late. Do not put much weight on these thin hopes… But yet, there is something in that. I know, that if the great spirits mean for him to live, they will find a way to help him. We must hurry. I will help you in whatever ways I can, you lovely girl."

They wrapped Zuko's body in the tapestry they had brought, and carried him to the staircase. Then Iroh removed the remaining knife and crown from Azula's body and carried her into her cell. He walked out and locked it behind him.

"Please turn away, child. You will not want to see this."

Then the chamber was both bright with fire and dark with smoke and smelled sickeningly like pork.


	6. Tightrope Master

**That Same Night**

"A letter has been sent to the Southern Water Tribe requesting Master Katara's immediate presence."

"Thank you, Iroh," replied Mai in a small voice. No longer trying to keep her composure now that they were out of sight of prying eyes. Her body shook with tremors. She didn't wipe the tears that were coming down her face.

She did not sob, though. She was unworldly quiet. Iroh thought this was worse.

_She is blaming herself for being too late,_ he thought, sadly. _I wish she could see how much she has done already._

"Please, child, call me Uncle." He asked her in the loving voice that he had used on Zuko in his darkest times.

Mai looked up from the body. For the first time since they had gotten the body into the catacombs, Iroh was able to look into the eyes of the girl and saw that they were not filled only with grief, but with determination.

"We cannot wait for her," Mai answered. "Even with that Sky Bison it will take at least a week. There must be someone else. There has to be."

"Lady Mai," he replied sadly, "what we are asking for is someone to bring back our Fire Lord from the spirit world. This cannot be done by any simple healer, waterbender or not. I am afraid that no one in this palace knows how Master Katara brought back the avatar."

It was true. Avatar Aang and Master Katara had left to restore the Southern Water Tribe to its former glory , and Lady Toph and Sokka were in Ba Sing Se trying to figure out what would become of the Fire Nation Colonies. Beyond that, Iroh wasn't sure where to start.

They couldn't go to anyone else for help. Zuko was the Fire Lord. He was the most powerful person in the world besides the Avatar. If anyone knew he was dead the world would descend into chaos.

But it was more than that, and both Iroh and Mai knew what it really was that was making them keep the death a secret. It was a lesson that all fire nation citizens learned in school.

All _Fire Lords must be burnt upon a funeral pyre upon the eve of their death. The light of this pyre will lead the Fire Lord into the spirit world in the sky, where he will sit beside his ancestors. If he is not guided quickly by the light, then the demons of the earth may snatch him to use his power against his own people. If this happens, the days will become hot, the rain will not fall, and the livestock will die._

Very rarely has this tradition been broken. A few hundred years ago, Fire Lord Myola, known more commonly as "The Stormtamer" had her body lost at sea. The months until her body was found were so blisteringly hot that firebending was temporarily prohibited within city limits, as any stray spark could have burnt down the entire dry landscape.

_If Zuko's death were known, _Iroh thought sadly to himself_, I will never see my nephew again. I must save him still. He is the world's greatest hope for balance. _

"If there is still hope, I do not know where to find it," said Iroh, more to himself than to Mai. "I need time to think."

"You said it yourself, Uncle. There is no time," replied Mai bitterly. She still wore the nurse's uniform, although it was covered in soot and dirt. She had not yet gone back into the palace.

"Patience is still important even when there is no time to wait. Remember that, Mai."

"Is this really an appropriate time for riddles? What we need is answers, not philosophy."

"Ah, but in riddles sometimes we find the most tru….. Mai! I think me may have some hope still left! But it is dangerous. It is very dangerous. I couldn't ask it of you, so I shall go alone. But we will have answers!"

"What are you talking about, Iro.. Uncle?

"There is a way to find out how to bring Zuko back from the spirit world. It is complicated, but it has been done many times before. There are many Spirits of Wisdom, Lady Mai, they keep balance by knowing what is true and what is false in both of our worlds…"

"Then we must contact them. Now!" Mai was excited (well, maybe not 'excited' but a little more animated than usual). This would not be impossible after all. There were people in the Fire Nation could communicate with the spirits.

"Sadly, it is not that simple. The Knowledge Spirits have sworn a sacred oath to keep their wisdom away from mortals. Those who break that oath are exiled and cursed to eternal torment. The spirits that have broken their oaths, for whatever reasons, have their souls twisted by this curse. They are dangerous, Lady Mai, more dangerous than anything you can possibly imagine."

"But they can help us, right?"

"They have that ability, yes… but they are treacherous. Most of them speak in nothing but riddles. They are also cruel. They wish for others to suffer as they have and they take mercy on few."

Mai let this sink in. There was a chance for Zuko's life. A small one, but a chance nevertheless.

She didn't ask herself if it was worth the risk. She knew it was.

She loved him.

"How are we going to do this?"

"I told you Mai, I am going alone. I will not risk another young life being lost today."

"If you think I am just going to stay here mourning, you are a crazy old man." Spit Mai, angrily. But she was not mad at him, she was infuriated with her own inability to help. A moment later she cooled off, and looked away from him guiltily. "I am sorry, Uncle Iroh. I had no right to disrespect you."

"It is alright, child. I have been called worse. But as I was saying, anyone who travels into the spirit world walks the tightrope between life and death."

"Wait, we would need to go into the spirit world? No one can do that. Why can we not just call them here?"

"Even if the Spirit weren't trapped in exile, would you really unleash an unstoppable demon on our dimension that has no conscience and wants more than anything for mortals to feel his pain?"

"Of course not," admitted Mai. _  
_

"And there is a way, Mai. I have done it once before. Do not ask me when. I will tell my story when we have the time._"_

"How? How were you able to do it? You're no Avatar."

"No, I am not. But I know a secret way, which has been passed down over ten thousand years. Even longer than there have been Avatars."

"Did you learn it from the Dragons?"

"I knew my nephew wouldn't be able to stay quiet about that for long. He is very proud of my for it. But no, not the dragons. This method was passed down to me by a different set of masters. I learned how to walk that tightrope between life and death from the Tea Masters."

Mai facepalmed.

* * *

**Review! What do you think of Mai? I always loved her in the show. The romance between her and Zuko was a little awkward, but the awkwardness made sense. They have been betrothed since they were young, as is the way with most fire nobility. That must have made it awkward growing up together. I think they are good for each other, even if they aren't head-over-heels in romantic love with one another. That is what I want to reflect in my writing. They make each other stronger.**


	7. Underground Tea Time

**A new chapter every day! Let's see how long I can keep this up. I may be uploading another by this afternoon.**

* * *

"This method was discovered thousands of years ago," recounted Iroh. Mai settled onto the floor and prepared herself for a long droning story.

"The legend of its beginning has many variations, but the one that I learned first was this: When the people of the earth were still nomatic, they were often forced by the threat of starvation to try foreign plants. One plant, a simple Jinniua flower, treacherously took the life of many. It smelled more delicious than any nectar, but contained a deadly toxin. It killed so many people, that the anecdote was looked for in the same way that we would look for one for the flu.

"It took generations, but it was finally discovered that red sea mold neutralizes the toxin. Many lives were saved. But, there was an unexpected consequence.

"You see, when a person is on the brink of death, the barriers between our world and the spirit realm shrink away. This allows them easier passage to their next destination. When the Jinniua toxin is in the body, the body believes that it is going to die and begins the process of preparing the soul for the spirit world. However, it does not quickly register the anecdote. Therefore, if both are taken at the same time in the right amount, the body can be tricked into thinking that it will die even when the toxin is neutralized. A tea of these two things can allow a soul to temporarily cross the barrier between our world and the one beyond.

"That does not mean that this is not a dangerous task. The tea only allows for this connection for a few minutes to about a half hour, and if the soul is on the wrong side of the divide when the wall reforms, it will be trapped there. Their body in our world will remain comatose until it withers away.

"Let me go to the palace to fetch my herbs and my kettle. I will return quickly."

Mai watched the man leave in disbelief. She always knew that there was more to him than he let on. She had heard so many impressive stories. But it was a completely different thing when she saw his power in person. He was talking about tricking death, and he had done it before.

When Iroh returned he made the tea. He measured carefully, and used a wind-up brewing timer to insure that it was steeped properly. It smelled delicious, like honey and lilac.

"I will be gone for only a short while, and no longer than a half hour." And with that, he put the cup to his mouth and started drinking.

Mai waited. After he finished the tea, Iroh propped his back against a wall and closed his eyes. He looked as if he dozed off, but his breathing was uneven and his eyes twitched rapidly. He didn't look like he was in pain. It was more like he was extremely uncomfortable.

* * *

She was too anxious to be bored. She looks around the dirty cavern. _I kill the mad princess of the fire nation and I am damned to ineffectually sit by while Zuko's corpse rots beside me down here. There couldn't be a more terrible or more perfect spot to punish me with. I would have had my hair burned off before I went into a filthy place like this. _ _At least fate has a sense of irony. _

She had read about the Dragonbone Catacombs many times, but she hadn't really believed in them. She knew that there was a crypt under the Fire Sages Temple, but the stories about that were told about it were far too interesting to be true. At least, she had thought they were. The Dragonbone Catacombs were supposed to be haunted with the vengeful spirit of the dragons. The fire nation had once respected and loves them, but there had been a change in perspective in recent times. With the increase in the dynasty's power, so increased their ego. To show that they were more powerful than the dragons, they had them all hunted to extinction. Now, the dragon spirits stayed with their bones under the city, awaiting the moment to rise up again and have their revenge.

_These skeletons look like they want to rip me apart_, thought Mai. Their huge skulls were mounted on the walls like decorations. She wasn't scared, of course, but the combination of their glares and her fiance's cold body lying beside her unnerved her. She needed something to distract herself with, so she went over to look at Iroh's tea supplies.

She saw the timer and immediately picked it up. She estimated that Iroh had been out for five minutes, so she set the timer for another twenty-five. Then she studied the herbs. The flowers were dried and therefore it was impossible to discern what they would look like in the wild. The red sea mold, however, was fresh and oozing. It looked pretty ghastly. The tea kettle was still piping hot, and it appeared that it was also almost still full. Opening the lid, Mai smiled to see that Iroh had brewed an entire kettle of the stuff. _He can go back if it doesn't work this time. _

She sat back down beside Zuko.

"You wouldn't have wanted to see me like this, Zuko. I'm all high-strung and crazy… Well, maybe you would like to see it. Just so you could have a good laugh about it. You would tell me that I'm finally being "just like every other girl" I suppose. And I would tell you that that comment was distasteful and chauvinistic." Mai sighed, "I miss our arguments already, and it's only been a day.

"I just keep thinking that I should have been there with you. I have dealt with her lies for a lot longer. I could have warned you. We could have acted first…. Who am I kidding?" She held his hand kindly, but her voice grew stern. "You must have been very brave, but Azula never plays fair. You should have known that. Damn your honor."

The timer ticked on.

* * *

A small chime sounded throughout the cavern. Time was up.

Iroh was not awake.

"Wonderful," said Mai.

What had Iroh said to do if he wasn't back in time? Had he even said anything? Mai couldn't remember. But it looked like she was alone in this now.

"Looks like I've got to save you again, Zuko. You make such a great damsel in distress when you can't get all rage-y."

She went over to the kettle and poured herself a cup.

Sitting down beside Iroh, she drained the cup in one delicate slurp. Then she closed her eyes and waited for the worst.


	8. Orange

**First, I would like to give a huge thanks to my readers. You have really encouraged me to keep going with this story. The reviews I have received are so beautiful that they literally have me smiling goofily for hours.**

**Readingkinetic: You commented that you were confused with the intended pairing. I promise it will not be a creepy three-way pairing between Katara, Korra, and Zuko. But there will be romance for each of these characters, even if it is not what you would expect. I do not want to throw you all for a loop with something off the wall, but I do want there to be at least a little suspense.**

* * *

She was surprised that it didn't burn her throat. It felt calming. It made her want to relax, curl up, and peacefully doze off.

The poison was treacherous in that way.

It took a few moments before it hit her. The toxin reached her bloodstream, and if it were not for the red sea mold, when the toxin made it to the heart it would have caused a chemical reaction in the right atrium. That chemical reaction would allow the SA node to fire only a few times more before the heart would swell and burst.

But, a protein secreted by the mold inactivated the toxin, and all was well.

Except, of course, for discomfort of having foreign particulates flooding the bloodstream and interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses. The feeling could be compared to drinking cactus juice and sleeping medicine simultaneously. Mai had difficulty breathing, but had no energy to do anything about it. She saw images flowing across the inside of her eyelids and wondered if she had already fallen asleep and was dreaming.

Then she felt like she was getting jerked backwards, and then was falling down a long hole.

When Mai opened her eyes, she was no longer in the catacombs.

She held her breath at the magnificence of what was around her.

She wasn't in any one spot. She was in many, all at once. She was weightless. She was immaterial. Nothing was real, but everything was. Her eyes were flooded with different scenes, all swirling and blending and making no sense.

_What does this mean? Where do I go? _

She needed something to grab onto. She needed anything of substance, anything unchanging and whole. She was drifting too much. She was drifting off into these different places that she didn't know.

_Great job, Mai. You really planned this one out._ She scolded herself._ You don't even know who you were supposed to see, let alone how to get there… or how to get back._

_I have to find Iroh. That's my only chance. _

_I need to find Iroh._

One image began to spread out in her vision. It grew by merging with the swirls of light around it and reforming itself larger and larger. It was a terrible image. It was sickly brown and orange and full of twisted logs and swamps and fog.

_I hate orange_, thought Mai. Then she realized what she was supposed to do. She let the image continue to expand and clung onto one thought.

Bring me to Iroh.

And then she fell forward into the image, and into a world unlike any she had ever seen.

* * *

She fell face first into a disgusting sludge.

"Ugh." She shakily got to her feet. There was murky water in a pool a few feet away from the muddy place that she landed. She used it to wash the mud off of her hands and face.

_Where is Iroh? Where is anyone?_

Before her was a great tree. It was taller than a mountain and at the top, its high branches glowed as if they nested stars. At the base of the tree was a great ugly hole. It looked unnatural, and the darkness of it seemed to pull the light out of the space around it. She trudged over to it and looked in.

_Lovely. And I thought Omashu was a dump. _

Mai set off down the crumbling stairs. She knew something terrible was waiting for her, lurking in the darkness, and maybe even watching her right then. She just didn't know what it was.

* * *

**Wooo! Second chapter written today! I know it was short, but this way I could upload it faster. Your reviews are what keep me going! Review!**


	9. Let's Make a Deal

**I would like to mention one important thing before you continue this story. Before Avatar Aang met Koh the Face Stealer, he was warned of what Koh could do:**

**"The spirit's name is Koh. But he is very dangerous. They call him the "Face Stealer." When you speak with him, you must be very careful to show no emotion at all, not the slightest expression or he will steal your face." –Avatar Roku**

**Mai, on the other hand, has not been warned. She does not know anything about the spirit she is about to meet, and she is in great danger because of that**.

* * *

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

-Edgar Allan Poe

* * *

She fought with the darkness. It was like a cloak pulled over her eyes. It was suffocating. I caused her to stumble. She feared for the moment when she would step down for the next stair and find nothing there. But the darkness was brief.

About a minute into the cave she began to make out shapes. There was a wall close to her left. There was a large round object to her right. If she extended her arm, she could almost make out the shape of her hand.

The stairs ended abruptly, and the shock of hitting ground too soon send her stumbling. She painfully hit her back on the corner of the stairs when she landed. She sat there on the cold, hard cave floor and closed her eyes, willing them to adjust to the darkness faster. She was determined to keep going, but she needed to rest and get her bearings.

She heard a rustle, but did not open her eyes. Then she heard breathing… no… she felt breathing.

_Shit_, she thought, and opened her eyes.

Before her was the shadowed face of a beautiful young woman.

"Do not be afraid, child." She asked her kindly. Her voice was soft and kind, but echoed eerily throughout the cave. "I will help you out of this cave. You can smile. Everything will be alright."

Mai did not smile. "Are you the knowledge spirit of this cave?"

"I could be. I very well could be. But first we should get out of this darkness. Don't you agree? I would just love to see your pretty face in the light. Not many women of nobility have come this way, not many at all. Oh, what a treasure you are."

"So you are the knowledge spirit, then. I have come to you for help." Mai's face was impassive. She was determined not to let this spirit trick her. She would get the answers she needed. "Have you seen an old man? He would have come through here a little while ago. Did you answer his questions?"

"I do not know what you have heard of me, Lady Mai of the Fire Nation, but I do not grant knowledge that freely." Koh was angry. The darkness of the cave receded and Mai could make out details. And the details weren't pretty. The eyes of the woman looked empty, as if they were the eyes of a mask. Her face also looked pale and stretched, and her gritting teeth and snarling voice made it all the worse. "I am no trained ape, here to fetch your friends and obey your command! I AM ONE OF THE ANCIENT ONES!"

The woman's face became swallowed into a giant black eye socket. The lashes looked like crusted hooks and were caked with webs and dirt, and the lid looked leathery and weathered. The eye opened again and the face of a screeching monkey swelled out.

It screamed and screamed in Mai's face. She didn't flinch.

"If you think this is scary," Mai responded in a bored tone. "You should have met Azula. Now, THAT girl was a monster."

Mai wasn't stone. On the inside, she was terrified. She was 'dig a whole to hide in' terrified. But she had years of experience with this kind of people. Fire Lord Ozai, Azula, Her father, even Zuko back when he was incredibly unstable, all had yelled and yelled and tried to instill fear in others to gain power. Koh's tactic was old news.

The ape screamed again in frustration, and then the eye sucked it back in and replaced it with an old and wise-looking man with a thin mustache.

Looks like it is willing to cooperate, at least, thought Mai.

" If I cannot get your face, then lets at least make a deal. I can tell that you are desperate, or you would not have come. I do not have to ask you what you wish, because I know already. I know everything that is and that has been." The voice sounded wise and reasonable. Mai suspected that the man the face belonged to had once been a merchant of some sort. "I know that you wish more than anything for the Fire Lord's spirit to return to his worldly body. I know that you have come to me for answers. But I can give you more than that. I can give you back his life"

Hope wrecked through Mai's body. It made her blood pump and her heart skip. It almost made her smile. Almost. She caught herself. She couldn't let him see this effect on her. She wouldn't give him that power. She needed to stay in control.

She was afraid to ask her next question, but it had to be done.

"What will it take?"

"Life is a balance. Give and take, push and pull. Life must be replaced with life, and death with death. I will give you back your Fire Lord… if you give me something in return."

"Speak your deal clearly and I will consider it."

"You will accept my terms. I have no doubts of that." The face was smug. "The spirit of a Firebender, while I won't say it is more special than other spirits, it has its… differences, you could say. It is tied to the fire spirits in ways that other souls are not. Yours, for example, is not. That makes you unfit for this trade, I am sorry to say."

Mai was not sure whether to be upset or thrilled by that news.

"I need a fresh face…. you see. It is what I live for. It is my… collection, of sorts. And I love yours oh so very much. It has so much control. So much power. But… I also crave a bit more excitement. A good Fire Bender could offer that to me. Oh, I feel so lucky that you came to visit me. Where else do I get an opportunity like this?"

"Please, just tell me. I am running short on time."

"Oh, I know all about that. Time, time, time. It is the only limit to my knowledge…. how interesting that is. But no matter. If you agree to my offer, I will also guarantee safe passage for you and your old friend back into the mortal realm. But you will agree, I know it, so that is just me being exceedingly generous. Can't you see how nice I am?"

"Yes, unexpectedly so. Which worries me."

"Ah, but you do not appear to be so worried. I will go ahead and tell you, I suppose. I would like your first male heir with the Fire Lord. I would like him after he is good and grown, around 20 years old, I suppose. I will take him, and I will tear away his face and consume his fire bending energies."

"Is that it?"_ Does it know that what it is asking for I can make never happen? Does it know how easily avoidable it is? Can a knowledge spirit really be this thick?_ "You will take my son when he is 20, and only if I have him with Zuko? And then you will restore his life and bring Iroh and myself back to our world safely?"

"Your son, or your grandchild, or their son, and so on and so on until there is a male heir that reaches his twentieth year. I will not be content with a stillborn or a child gone before his time."

"Done."

"This agreement is binding, Lady Mai."

"Do I need to sign in blood? Yes. Fine. I agree. Just bring him back to me."

"As you wish."

_If only you knew what you are going to end up with_, thought Mai smugly.

_If only you knew what you are going to lose_, thought Koh.

Mai closed her eyes as she felt herself being pulled away.

* * *

**I made it! With twenty minutes to spare! Three chapters in one day. Holy smokes. Please review!**


	10. The Body

**If you have ever read Mary Shelley's **_**Frankenstein **_**you should get a kick out of this chapter. It was one of my inspirations for this storyline, so I thought now was as good a time as any to pay it tribute.**

* * *

With an anxiety that amounted to agony, I stared at the body lying before me. It was beautiful. It was terrible. Its features were both serene and lifeless. Its body was both rigid and smooth. It was the corpse of a powerful, regal man: A man that had changed the fate of the entire world. It was the remains of a Fire Lord. But it wasn't Zuko, not yet at least.

He looked so much at peace. I began to wonder if what I had done was wrong. What if he is happy? What if he comes back in pain?

Oh god, I didn't really think this through.

Will he love me more for saving him? Or will he despise be for it? People aren't supposed to come back. It wasn't right. It wasn't natural.

I had risked my life for this upcoming moment. This was supposed to be the moment when Zuko would open his eyes and be himself again. I thought it would be like saving a dying man, or giving the breath of life into a drowned man.

It felt nothing like that. I was scared. Zuko had been dead for many hours, and his body wasn't the same as before. It had stiffened and grew even colder. The blood around his mouth had dried and began crumble, and his eyes were slightly opening. Only slightly, but it was terrifying nevertheless.

There was finality to it that I had been overlooking before. Only moments before had I really begun to understand that the Zuko I cared for, the Zuko I loved, wasn't in that room with me. He wasn't in that body. There shouldn't be any saving him anymore. He was in a different place. Probably a better place.

And he was about to get ripped away from there.

I didn't want to watch. It felt just like the time Zuko had been summoned to an Agni Kai by his father. I was not forced to watch it. I chose to. I hated it. But I had to be there. I thought being there for him would make it better. I wish I hadn't. He was so ashamed, and he was angry. He had been burned by his own father. But he was more angry at himself than anyone else, and it tore him apart.

This time, he had been burned by his sister. I hoped to the spirits that he didn't relapse. I prayed that this time he wouldn't be angry.

I was terrified of what would wake up.

And I was right to do so.

Iroh sat beside me. I had a feeling that he was thinking similar thoughts because his hands were shaking and he looked concerned.

After he had scorned me for my recklessness and then for my foolishness and then hugged me madly for my safe return, he asked me what I had done. I told him what had happened, keeping nothing back, not even my agreement, and he wept for me. He wept out of guilt for not warning me of Koh, he wept for my incredible luck of staying expressionless, and he wept for the sacrifice of my future.

I had never felt more loved than I did in that moment. Not even from my parents. Not even from Zuko.

I asked him to tell me what had happened to him. He explained that he hadn't made it to Koh's lair. His voice had trembled with shame as he did. As he was walking toward Koh's lair through the swamp, a guardian spirit in the form of a giant fox-wolf had spotted him. The spirit's sole job was to ensure that the exiled spirits remained in their solitude, and it did not rest until Iroh was well and lost in the swamp over a mile from the tree. I had been lucky, because if Iroh hadn't unintentionally distracted the guardian, I would have never made as far as I did. By the time that he had snuck back, I had already went into the tunnel and made the deal with Koh. Iroh was pulled back to our world just as he descended the first set of dark stairs.

I wondered what would have happened if Iroh had made it to Koh. What would Koh have offered him? Lu Ten was dead, and that was the end of his line. Would he have given up his own life if that was an option.

I had a sad feeling that he would have.

I reached out to straighten the blood-stained collar of the Fire Lord's robes when I heard Iroh make a strange noise. I looked over to him to ask what was the matter, but the words caught in my throat when I saw his horrified expression. It sent shivers down my spine and for a moment I forgot how to breathe.

Something was wrong.

And I knew what it was.

And I wish I didn't

I was scared to look back at the body. I didn't want to. How long was I sitting there immobilized? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Time didn't seem to matter anymore. But I couldn't not look. Especially once I started hearing the muttered noises beside me and felt the cold breath on my hand.

My hand, I remembered, was still resting on its collar.

I did not like it there. But I was afraid to move it. I slowly moved my gaze from Iroh to my hand. When I saw the chest rising and falling beneath my hand, I almost cried. It was such a powerful moment, and I almost threw myself on top of him.

There was only one thing stopping me.

And that was this unnerving and unexplainable terror that was pulsating through every fiber of my being.

I forced my gaze upward over his face, and towards his eyes.

This was it.

His eyes were open.

And they were not a terrifying pale yellow.

They were normal. The only think keeping them from being beautiful was the disfiguring red scar surrounding his left one.

But they were not looking at me. They weren't looking at Iroh, either.

They were just looking straight forward at the ceiling.

Iroh tried speaking to him. I don't remember what he was saying. I just remember that Zuko didn't respond. It was like we weren't even there. He just kept making these terrible inarticulate sounds. I was dying inside. This was not my Zuko. This was a mistake.

Iroh kept trying though. Over and over he tried, but there was no response.

I was heartbroken.

I reached out to him, and he finally reacted. I can still remember exactly what I said to him that did it. "Zuko, I said, "we can help you. We are here for you. You can beat this, whatever it is that is keeping you from us. But I think you could use our help. We can beat this. Together. We've learned this a thousand times. The only way we win, is together."

He finally moved. He finally moved and he looked my way. I was struck my how powerful his gaze was. I was about to tell him I loved him. I was about to bend over and kiss him on his blood caked lips.

Then, he cried out his first word since being resurrected.

"Azula."

With a convulsive motion he reached his cold hands around my throat and squeezed.

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**Thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming and I will keep these chapters coming. I have never really written anything before, so I am afraid of what will happen if I stop for a few days. Everything is so fresh in my mind now and I want to get it all down before I lose it. **

**What do you think of the style of this chapter? I thought this was a very emotional part, and I wanted to capture it in the same heart-wrenching way as Mary Shelley did. Third-person narrative just wouldn't have the same effect. **

**Lawliness asked me a good question about the *implied* child that Zuko and Mai *might* have. I feel like anything I say about it will give away too much, but rest assured, it will be revealed within the next few chapters! **

**Domino EFX: I am glad that Gaspard is pleased. I hope it curbs his appetite.  
**

**To both of you, thanks for sticking with me from the beginning. It means a lot. **

**To my other reviewers: Riah83, Nettlebird13, Razniak, dyingimmortal, ShadowFiend213, readingkinetic, and EnyandEathenyl, Thank you for your words of encouragement and advice. They keep me going!**

**Stay tuned! ****Holy frickin super quick updates coming** soon!


	11. Zuko Alive

**I am updating this one quickly because one of my reviewers made a good point.**

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**To those wondering what the heck is up with Zuko, the easiest way to explain it is that some of him came back… but not all of him. I was going to wait until later to explain it further, but if I have made it too confusing or not believable, I apologize. It is my own fault as a writer, and I will clear it up now.**

**In the Legend of Korra series, it is shown that that if the bond between a person and their bending is severed, the bending is taken away and the person changes extremely in their personality. They generally become lethargic and depressed, and some are so wrecked by it that they die.**

**To look at it mathematically, let's say that a person's soul is made up of 10 equal parts.**

**The act of "taking away bending," at least in my story, is taking away a part of a bender's soul and sending it on to the spirit world. The negative side effects of lethargy or depression are a kind of emptiness from having an incomplete soul.**

**If this is still hard to think about, think Horcrux.**

**So in this example, 9 parts of a person will be in the human world and one part will be dragged into the spirit world.**

**What is happening to Zuko in my story is taking that a step even further. This is what happened when that bond between the person and their bending is severed while in the spirit world. Koh broke the bond between Zuko and his bending. Then he only transferred over enough of him to allow him to keep "living" and satisfy the deal.**

**So, let's say that 5 parts of his soul are in the human world, and the other five are held captive in the spirit world.**

**It sounds pretty unpleasant, doesn't it?**

**Hope this helps!**

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**Also, Do not worry that this fanfiction is going to be about a mopey Zuko trying to be himself again. It is nothing like that. This is a plot device to get Katara and Zuko to the North Pole. I love Zuko, and I want him in this story in all of his glory. I can't disclose much more than this. Just hold on tight and enjoy the ride.**

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Zuko heard the voice. He wished it would stop. It was distracting. It didn't make any sense.

Neither did the sky. All the stars had died. And the moon, it seemed.

It made him sad. He liked them.

He tried to find the thought that he had been thinking about before, but it eluded him.

Had he been sleeping? He couldn't tell. He didn't remember waking up, but he didn't remember doing anything else either.

It was just as if he had always been there. But he knew he hadn't.

He had been other places. He was sure of that. He knew that there were supposed to be stars in the sky. He was familiar with the idea of voices. He knew that there were people, and that they could talk to one another. He had met some of them before. That was nothing new.

He was a little confused by how the voice didn't make any sense to him though. He had known how to talk before, hadn't he?

He gave it a try.

"mmuughhhhressss ahhhggg breehh nooop pth"

He thought he did a pretty decent job.

He tried a few more times.

He wondered if the other voice understood him.

He decided to listen.

The voice was soothing. He wasn't sure if he remembered it from anywhere, but it made him feel like he was snuggled up in something warm.

Then it stopped.

Then a new voice took its place.

He did not like this new voice.

There was something about it that made him think of bad things. It was higher in pitch than the other voice.

Why couldn't he remember anything?

He heard the word "beat." It made sense. He heard it all the time. It was something that happened and then he felt sad. It was a bad word. It was like "defeat." He remembered other ways to say them too. There was "beaten," and then "defeated." He knew these words very well.

He kept listening, but he was edgy. The numbness in his body was receding. He was confused. He needed control. Only half listening to the retched voice, he tried to distract himself with the ugly sky again. But it was not distracting enough. A phrase triggered something in his memory. A few small bits and pieces of a life came flooding back into head. He betrayed someone he loved. It was her. It was her that ruined everything. His god-awful evil sister. She needed to be stopped.

She was so close. He had his chance. And then she would be gone for good and everyone will be happy and the stars will come back.

He turned to the source of the voice.

He didn't know why, but he expected something a little different. Oh well.

He paused, sifting through his newfound memories for the right word. He didn't really know what it meant. But he knew it fit, somehow.

"Azula," he gritted.

And then he lunged.


End file.
